Not alone
by CercandoUnaVoce
Summary: When Street goes missing, will the team be able to find him before it's too late? And can they protect him from the shadows of his past? Warning for some violence and mention of child abuse.
1. Chapter 1

"Mornin' guys," Luca said, entering the locker room.

Tan and Chris were already there, and almost ready to go, as shift would start in five minutes.

Tan closed his locker, and looked up to his running late colleague.  
"Hey, what happened to you? Video Game night?"

"Yeah, quite that."

The tree of them smiled.

"By the way, where's Street?" Chris asked.

"I thought he was already here," Luca shrugged. "He didn't come home for the night."

"So, he must have been lucky last night," Tan smirked, then they reached Deacon and Hondo in the briefing room.

"C'mon guys, hurry up. We have a case!" Hondo said.  
"Hey Luca, where's Street?"

"Why are you all asking me that? I'm not his babysitter!"

"Yeah, but you live on his couch!" Tan stepped in.

"Fair enough... Last night he told me he was going out. That's all I know. I haven't seen him since then."

"I just tried to call him, but his phone's off." Chris said. "That's not like him."  
She started to worry.

"We have no time for this right now. Gear up, focus on the raid. We will deal with that stupid rookie later," Hondo ordered.

.

The raid was quick. It was an extremely easy job.  
They went in; took down two suspects; cleared the rest of the building, and went out.

No casualties, no problems. Just a routine job.

"Hey, are you trying to call Street again?" Tan said as he saw Chris busy on her phone.

"Yeah, still not responding."

"Don't be so worried. I bet he spent the night with some girl, lost track of time, and now he is to ashamed to answer your call," Tan said, as he was trying to convince even himself that nothing was wrong.

"It's just... He has never been this late, not since his first day on the job."

"Yeah, you're right, and he can't be so stupid to take his phone off this long. I think something is going on," Hondo said.

.

Once back at the HQ, they were hoping to find him there, with a pathetic excuse for his delay, but there was still no sign of him.

"Still nothing from Street?" Hondo asked.

They all shook their heads.

"I was trying to track his phone," Luca said, and he suddenly felt his colleagues' puzzled looks on him.  
"What? I was the last one to see him, if something happened I want to know!  
"... By the way, I couldn't trace him. He may have taken the battery off."

"That's definitely not good," Hondo said. "Are you sure you don't know where he went last night?"

Luca shook his head. "He just told me he was going to see an old friend, nothing more."

"Ok. Tan, put an A.P.B. on his vehicle."

He nodded, and brought his tablet to do so.

"If he is in some kind of trouble, we will find out," Hondo said before going to inform his superiors.

.

About an hour later they were still searching unsuccessfully, till Tan's phone rang.

"Hey! Guys, I had a heads up from my man in LAPD," Tan said, hanging up. "Street's motorcycle was spotted near a bar in Long Beach, but there's no sign of him."

"Ok, let's go take a look," Hondo said.

They arrived at the parking lot, where they quickly spotted Street's bike.

"Chris and I go in, maybe we can find someone who knows something useful," Hondo said. "You guys, take a look around."

"Sorry, we are still closed," the bartender said, hearing someone entering his place.

Hondo approached the counter, "we are not here to drink. Can we talk to you for a moment?"

"Oh, sorry officers, of course," he said looking up. "What can I do for you?"

"Are you the owner?" Chris asked.

"Yes, I am. There's something wrong?"

"No, we just have a few questions for you," Hondo continued. "Were you here last night?"

"Yes, I practically live here." He forced a tired smile.

"Do you know who's bike is it in your parking lot?"

He shook his head. "It must belong to some drunk that was clever enough to take a cab last night."

The two cops looked at each other.

"Do you recognize this man?" Chris said, showing him Street's photo on her phone.

He took a close look at it and mumbled. "Yes, I think he was here last night. He should be Grace's brother."

Chris stared at Hondo, confused.

"Who's Grace?" he asked.

"She is a regular here, a nice girl, but you know, she is the kind of girl that has always some problem to deal with. She is the classic damsel in distress, a true magnet for trouble."

"And she said he was her brother?" Chris asked.

"At least it's what she told me. Is she in serious trouble?"

"We don't know yet," Hondo continued. "How long were they here?"

"A couple hours, I think. They sat in the corner, she seemed nervous, even more than usual, and he was clearly trying to calm her down."

"Do you know why?"

"I have no idea. I don't usually spend my time overhearing my client's private conversations."

Chris sighted. "Did you know where they would go when they left?"

"Sorry, I can tell they went out together, but I didn't noticed where they went..."

"Do you have any surveillance cameras in or out here?"

He shook his head. "Never needed them."

"Ok, last question: do you know Grace 's last name or where we can find her?"

"Sorry, I said she is a regular, but she is really reserved. I just know she works as a waitress, but I'm not really sure where."

"Alright, thanks for your help," Hondo said, getting out of the place.

"No problem, officers," he said, returning to his usual business.

Once out of the bar they reached Deacon at the other end of the parking lot.

"Nothing really useful there," Hondo said. "Did you find something?"

"Maybe. There are some suspicious traces near that alley. It seems like someone was drugged by, but it can be literally everything."

Tan approached. "I found two crashed cell phones, there are pieces of them everywhere in the alley, but I'm quite sure one is Street's... I doubt we will be able to extract something useful out of them.

"Anyway there's a market across the street, Luca went to ask for their surveillance video, I hope we get lucky with that at least."

.

Back at the HQ, Luca put on the video, and started to search for some useful images.  
Sergeant Munford and Captain Cortez joined them shortly after.

"Ok, you said you found evidence that Street was abducted. What do we know exactly?" she asked.

"We only know he was last seen in this bar with a mysterious girl, Grace, no last name, who claimed to be his sister, then nothing more," Hondo said.

"Except he has no sisters," Chris stepped in.

"Maybe a foster sister? Or someone close to him from his foster care days?" Deacon asked.

"No idea. He never talks about that part of his life."

"Wait, I think I found something," Luca called out, showing his colleagues the footage he was examining.

"Here, in the corner near the alley, you see?" he pointed at the screen.

They could see Street following the mysterious girl towards the alley.  
"It seems he is trying to stop her." Luca pushed the fast-forward button up until the exact point when they saw a black van getting out.

"Before and after that, no one got out of there. And since it is a blind alley, they must have been in that van."

"Oh my Gosh," Chris said. "We have to find him!"

"Can you extract the license plate?" Deacon asked.

Luca shook his head. "No way, it is covered with dirt. It seems they knew what they were doing. This is definitely not some hack."

"Alright, calm down. Did he ever told any of you if he had any enemies?" Cortez asked.

"We are cops, we all have someone who wants to see us dead," Hondo said. "Luca, can you at least extract Grace's photo from the video?"

"I'm already on it, I'll insert in the facial recognition database."

"There are so many mysteries on this girl," Deacon said. "Was she the intended target? Was she a collateral damage? Or was she an accomplice of the kidnapper?"

"My team can take care of that. You should go to Street's apartment," Munford offered. "See if you can find something that might lead us to the girl. Meanwhile, we will search in his old case from Long Beach PD and see if someone stands out."

"You should also try to recover Street's child service file. Maybe there's something useful," Hondo said. "Ok guys, move. Luca, you have the keys of the apartment. Take Tan and Chris with you."

"And what we are going to do?" Deacon asked.

"There is another lead we should check." Hondo said.

They all listened carefully.

"His mother."

They stared at him, puzzled.

"Isn't she in prison?" Luca asked.

"That didn't stop her from interfering with his life before. If she could do what she did from inside there, maybe someone else is trying to take advantage of her from the outside.  
I would prefer to not tell her yet, but it may be the way to find him."

"Ok, let's get to work." Cortez said.


	2. Chapter 2

Street slowly started to regain consciousness. He found himself laying on a cold, dank floor.  
His body was heavy, and his head was throbbing. He opened his eyes, only to find himself surrounded by more darkness.  
The moist air and the sharp smell of mold penetrated in his nose, invading his lungs.

He tried to move, but he soon realized his wrists were chained to the ground, and his ankles were tied up together.

He managed to put himself in a sitting position.  
As soon as his eyes got used to the darkness he managed to take a pretty good look around.  
It seemed a large empty room. He could discern there was only one small entrance, at the shortest wall, only reachable from a set of stairs.

At the base of the stairwell, there was a small, motionless human figure, curled up in the corner.

He started to recall; Grace called him the day before.  
He was genuinely surprised to hear her voice, because he hasn't had any news from her in years.  
She told him she was in trouble. She sounded really scared and confused, so he agreed to meet her, to calm her down, and figure out if there was a real threat.

He was with her the other night, he was trying to figure out what was really going on, but suddenly someone knocked him out with a teaser.

"Grace! Grace, is that you?" he called out.

"I'm so sorry Jimmy..." she replied. "So sorry..."

"Are you hurt?"

"No... but I'm so scared... he... he must followed me, and then he found you too..." Her voice was broken by tears. "He threatened me to catch us both... I'm so sorry..."

"Do you know him?" he asked getting more and more confused. "Who the hell is he?"

In that moment their kidnapper opened the door, and turned the light on, revealing himself to Street.

The bright light blinded the cop for a couple of seconds, and when he regained control of his sight he was extremely shocked to see who was coming down toward them.

"Do you recognize me, little piece of junk?" the man said with a grin.

Street went back in his memory to find his kidnapper's name: "Gretcher?!"

"So you remember! What a honor! I remember too, Jimmy, you know?" He was approaching him.  
"I thought of you for the last fifteen years of my life, since you and miss Grace here sent me in jail."

"You are a damn rapist and a pedophile, you got what you deserved."

"Did you know what they do in there to people convicted for such crimes?" Gretcher grabbed him by the hair.  
"Of course you do, you are a cop now." He kicked him in the chest.

"Don't blame me, you brought that on yourself," he tried to hold back.

"My life changed only because of you! My wife dumped me; you took everything I had away from me."  
He kicked him again.  
"I was punched and beaten every day, did I deserve that?"  
He was keeping kicking him.  
"They hurt me, badly, several times. They even made me impotent, did you know that? How could Margaret still want me after that? Did you really think I deserved all of that?" He pressed his foot on Street's chest.

He growled in pain, unable to say anything back.

"And now, after all those years, I can finally have my revenge."  
The man turned to Grace, "and I will start with you, my precious girl."

"Don't you... dare touch... her," Street barely managed to say.

"Or what? C'mon what are you gonna do this time? Ahahah!"  
He grabbed her by her neck, and he started drugging her up the stairs.

"No, no! please stop... Jimmy! Help me, please!"

"Stop! It's my fault! Only my fault, let her go! She didn't want to turn you to the cops, I made her do that!"

"Oh, don't you worry; I know that!" he said looking at him in disgust.  
"Relax I'll be back for you in no time."  
He closed the door behind him, leaving Street alone in the dark.

.

Grace cried all the way to her new accommodation, a small storage room on the first floor.  
It was warmer and cleaner than the basement, but that wasn't of any help for her.

"Don't worry baby, I'm a man of my word," he said, gratifying himself of her terrorized look.  
"As you helped me catching your friend, I'll keep my promise, and I am going to let you go. Just... not yet, you can still be useful."

He stepped out the door.  
"Moreover Margaret always liked you, she wouldn't forgive me if I fell in my old habits."  
The crazy look on his face immediately gave her the creeps.

"For now I'm just going to pretend we are having fun tougher, just to drive the little mind of that no-needed-hero crazy."  
Then he left, and locked the door.

.

Street's mind was clouded, and his movement were slowed by the beatings he recieved, but he was trying to come out of it with all his strength.  
He failed in his attempt to loosen the rope around his ankles, they were tied too tight, then he tried so hard to free his arms that he made his wrists bleed.

He felt as he was a child again, scared and powerless.

He could do nothing to defend himself, nothing to escape. All his training and all his past experiences were useless, and his thoughts started to get the best of him.

He thought of what was going to happen next;  
of what Gretcher was doing to Grace while he couldn't protect her;  
of what the man would do to him when he come back.

His mind went back to all the times he hid in his room, holding his breath at every footstep he could overhear trough the door, knowing his father was coming for him.  
To the times his foster parents locked him somewhere, to punish him for not respecting their rules.  
To all the times the people who were supposed to take care of him, instead hurt him.  
To the time he was living with the Gretchers...

To all that times where no one was there to help him.

He knew he couldn't let his memory took over, unless he wanted to completely lose his mind.  
He tried to slow his breath, 'inhale for 4 sec, exhale for 4' he thought, but everything hurt, and even breathing was hard.

Then his mind went back to a couple of months before, when Richter held him hostage, and he felt he was going to die, killed as all the other in the room with him.

But that time someone was there for him. His squad reached him just in time.

'C'mon Jim you have already been in a situation like this. Your team saved you, they will do it again...' he forced himself to think, but he still couldn't hold the fear back.

'You're not a lonely child anymore, they... they are your family... they will come!' he tried again to convince himself.

.

He couldn't tell how long he had been lost in his thoughts when Gretcher came back to the basement.

"Sorry for the wait, I had to take care of something, or should I say someone? Hahaha."

"Where's Grace? What did you do to her?"

Gretcher could clearly feel the panic in his victim voice. "Exactly what you are thinking, kid! But don't worry, she is still alive... at least for now," he smirked.

"Don't you dare, bastard!"

"You have always been a smart ass, didn't' you? Always going on your own rules, but now you are under my complete control," the man said, heading down the stairs.  
"Now I can do to you whatever I want. How does that sound to you?"

Street was trying to maintain control of himself, to not show his fear. He didn't want to give him that satisfaction, it was the only thing he was sure of at that moment.

"Oh, I planned a whole bunch of activities we can do together, my dear boy."  
Gretcher approached him.

"First of all you are gonna feel what I felt in my days in prison... I'm going to show you how they use to greet me."

He started kicking him again, harder and harder, in the stomach, in the back, in the legs and in the arms... Street could do nothing to make him stop. No metter how the cop tried to shield himself, the man just continued to hit him.

He coughed, his mouth was full of blood.  
He was desperately trying to come up with a sarcastic comment, something to distract himself, and ease the pain; to show his beater he was not scared; that he was not suffering that much. But he was in so much pain he could barely breath, so he just tried his best to not emit a sound, to not complain, to not show how bad he was feeling, till he finally lost consciousness.

"Is this all you can take?" the man arranged a last, strong kick, to make sure Street wasn't bluffing. "Well, I guess the first game just ended."


	3. Chapter 3

When Karen Street entered the penitentiary's visiting room, she was surprised to see the two cops waiting for her.

"What do you want from me again?" she said, giving Hondo a powerful hate look.

"Ms. Street, sit down please, there's something you need to know," Deacon said.

"Something happened to Jimmy?"

"He didn't report to work this morning; we think he might have been kidnapped," Hondo said.

"What? Why?"

"That's what we are trying to figure out. There's anything you should tell us?"

She got up. "That's incredible!"  
The guard in the corner immediately made a step toward her, but Hondo made him a sign to not intervene.

"We want to find your son as much as you do, believe me," Deacon tried to calm her down. "We are just asking you if you may have heard something. Is it possible that someone is trying to threaten you through him?"

"That's unlikely, no..."  
She set back down. "I... I don't think so."

"Think more carefully, there is really no one?" Hondo intervened.

"The only person who is trying to make me miserable right now is you," she grinned.

"Did your son ever talk to you about a girl named Grace?" Deacon intervened.

"You know, I am not exactly in the position to be introduced to my son's girlfriends."

"No, it's not like that, she is probably a former foster sister, or something like that from when he was a child."

She thought of it. "I have no idea! It should be clear that I could not be there for him while he was growing up!  
You should ask that cop, the one who put me in there. Jimmy trusted him... even too much."

"We'll do, thank you for your help. We will inform you as soon as we have any news on your son." Deacon said, getting up.  
"And don't try anything on your own, we've got this, understood?" Hondo added before going out, while she responded with another one of her best, cold, hateful looks.

"I hate to admit that, but she's right, we shell call Buck," Hondo said, bringing his phone.

.

Luca, Chris, and Tan parked outside Street's apartment.

"This feels so wrong..." Chris said. "I know, we are messing with each other, and sticking our noses on each other business all the time... I mean, reading his personal file is one thing, but this?"

"Yeah, I hear you," Tan replied. "I feel the same way, but if it's helping us finding him, I'm sure he won't mind."

Luca opened the door with his key, "sorry for the mess guys, I'm afraid it's on me," ee said, as they got in, trying to release the tension.

"Ok, where do we start?" Tan asked, taking a quick look around.

"Well, I should check the living room, I pretty invaded that space; Tan, you can take the bedroom; and Chris you can take the kitchen."

"This is a loss of time, there's nothing useful here," she said after barely ten minutes of searching.

Luca nodded, "yeah, if it there was something in here, I would have already noticed. I guess we should help Tan with the bedroom, we may have more luck there."

"Nothing really pointing here too, I can't find nothing from when he was a kid," Tan said.

Luca opened the wardrobe: "Look, there are a bunch of old photos"

He passed the box to Chris, and they started examining them.

"He was such a cute kid." She said, sitting on her friend's bed. "And this must be his famous mother..."

"Those are too old, go on!" Luca said, searching for some more recent photos.

"I may have something."  
Tan handed the picture to Chris.

"There she is, with a younger girl."  
She turned the card to see the back: "2003, Grace and Jill."

"But we still not know where the picture was took, or the girl's last name," Luca said.

"We have the date, it should be in Street's child services' file."

They took all the photo with the same date, and quickly finish the search.

"There is nothing more here, we should go."

.

As soon as they were all back at the HQ, they started to share the information they found.

"How did it go with Street's mother?" Chris asked.

"This time I don't think she is involved." Hondo said.

"Agreed," Deacon said. "I think she was really surprised to hear all that. I mean she was definitely angry, but genuinely worried," he continued.  
"She suggested us to call Buck, she was confident he can recall something."

"Yeah, I tried that, but he is not answering," Hondo said. "What about you guys, did you found anything?"

Munford shook his head.  
"He made a lot of really good busts while he was in Long Beach PD, I have to admit that, but I don't think this is work related."

"Nothing on the girl yet, facial recognition is still running," Rocker said.

"Luca?"

"We found some photos with the girl, took in 2003, but no address, Chris is looking on his child services' file."  
He turned to her: "did you find it?"

"It's hard to say... This file is a total mess. The only thing clear is that he never had a stable home. There are plenty of notes form different social workers. There are addresses, names, schools he went to... plenty of information everywhere, but it may take me a while to untangle them."

They all felt bad for Street. They never fully realized how difficult it was for him growing in the foster system.

"No child should go through this..." Deacon said.  
"After meeting his mother, I started to think it was best for him not having her around while growing up, but I guess foster system wasn't any better."

In that moment Hondo's phone rang.

'Hondo, what's up?'

"Hey Buck, we have a big problem here."

'What's that? What can I do for you?'

"It's Street. He has been kidnapped."

'What? I'm out of the state, but I can fly back...'

"That's no need, we got this," Hondo interrupted, then put the call on speaker.  
"Listen, we have reasons to think it's someone from his foster care's days. Do you remember him having any trouble?"

'Oh, that's tough. He had a pretty hard time there.'

"This may involve a girl, one he probably become particularly attached to. I'm sending you a picture," Luca said. "Do you recognize the older one?"

'Just a moment.' Buck made them on hold. 'I don't know...'

"Her name's Grace, we found evidence she may shared the same foster home with him in 2003," Hondo said.

"Wait, I found something," Chris interrupted. "In 2003 Street lived with the Slider for 3 months."

'The name tells me nothing...'

"Then just a couple of week with the Millers..." she continued, having no response from the phone, "Here it is, he stayed with the Gretchers for..."

'Wait! That name... Gretcher, what can you tell?'

"Margaret and Carl Gretcher, he stayed there for almost 5 months, but then he was moved for... It says reckless behavior..." Chris went on reading the file. "No further information here..."

'Yes, I remember something now. The father was gross, he tried to take advantage of the girl, but Jim defended her," Buck said.

"How this comes to your mind only now?" They asked.

'It was 15 years ago. And unfortunately he ended up in more than one bad family...  
I did my best to keep an eye on him, but he didn't always come to me... He had to learn soon to do things by himself.'

Luca inserted the man's name in the database, "Here it is: Carl Gretcher, arrested for multiple rape and child abuse, in February 2004... but I can't tell more, the file has been classified."

"Oh Gosh..." Chris said.

"So the child service let this pedophile take care of kids, great!" Deacon stepped in. "Plus his wife did nothing to protect them, was she blind?!"

"I guess it must have been easier for her that way, so she didn't have to be the designed victim," Hondo said. "But if we assume Grace was the intended target, we shell control if any other of his victims disappeared. We have to unseal the file."

"I'm on it," Tan said.

"I doubt that others are involved," Luca continued reading the permitted information on the case file. "It appears the D.A made an agreement to avoid the girls testimony, Gretcher was released 5 years ago, after spending 10 in the country jail."

"So why going after the two of them, and only now?" Deacon asked.

'No, idea on the timeline, but,' Buck intervened. 'If I remember clearly, when fifteen years old Street discovered the foster father was taking advantage of the girl, he stepped in the way, and got his share of whacks. The man made it appear he acted in self defense, like the kid attacked him for no reasons. After that. child services started an investigation, but everyone else was too scared to testify and it was Street's word against Gretcher's'.

"Unbelievable!" Chris said.

'When Street was transferred, he refused to give up on Grace and the other foster kids there. He was stubborn enough to continue visiting the Gretcher's home to try to protect the girls, but the man beat the crap out of him every time he could. Of course as soon as I found out about that, I paid him a visit, but I had no legal base to intervene, so things went on as they were.  
It was only when the men tried to take advantage of a younger girl there, that Jim managed to convince Grace to step out. So the man was charged for assault on the girls, as well as physical abuse on Street.

"The kid was brave," Munford said.

"That's clearly the reason he is after Street, if it wasn't for him the charges would just dropped, and he could have continued the assaults undetected," Deacon said.

"Thanks Buck, we got this from now on, I'll let you know as soon as we resolve this," Hondo said.

'Ok, be careful,' He said before hanging up.

"Luca, find the Gtretcher's current address and work place, we are going to pay him a visit."

"We'll take the work, you take the home," Munford said, ordering his men to move as Hondo nodded.


	4. Chapter 4

When Street regained consciousness, he found himself hanged from his arms in the middle of the dark, dirty room.

It was definitely the same squalid place as before, but the room seemed to have become even more cold. He couldn't understand why the hairs of his arms were raised, and he was feeling the wet, bitey air acting directly on his skin.  
He looked down, just to figure out he had only his boxer shorts on.

He tried to free himself, but his wrist were bound together and fixated to a hook, and his legs and ankles were tied together.  
He could barely touch the ground with his bare feet, and his whole body was aching.

The position of his arms made his rib cage compressed, and the damage of the beatings he previously received added to the unpleasant atmosphere he was surrounded with, made the simple task of breathing a painful and stiff challenge.

'What the hell he is gonna do now?' he thought, imagining all kind of possible outcomes.

'C'mon guys, where are you? I really need help in here.'

He kept looking around, desperately trying to find a way out.

He knew he had to put his complete trust in his team, he had just to hold on until they could find him. 'Alright Jim, take a hold on yourself, you can do this. They will come.'

A few moments after, Gretcher entered the basement.

"Rise and shine, beauty, I'm all ready for you."

"What the hell pervert! Is this really how you are handling this?" Street hardly managed to say.

"Oh, don't be so rude, I'm sure you are going to enjoy our next activity!"

"Why don't you free me instead? I'm not fifteen anymore, let's see if you are still capable of taking me down on equal terms..." he tried to challenge his captor.

"Sorry kid, you tried, but I run the game now, and I'm not interested in that."

He spilled a bucket of iced water on him, making him unable to breath for a few seconds.

"This will make our game more interesting, it will help you feeling it the best."

Street tried to twist, and shake the water off his body, trying to understand what the man intended to do. As soon as Gretcher pulled out a cattle prod, he startled, figuring out what was going to happen.

Fear took hold of him, knowing he couldn't escape.

The man started to electrocute him in the chest: "This is one..."

Street tried not to growl, but he couldn't help but doing so.

"I planned my revenge for the last 15 years. Oh man, I waited so long! 15 is a good number don't you think? I started to like it, so I am going to prod you for 15 times.  
You should count them with me, just in case, you know, I lose the number or something..."

He shook him again: "Two... c'mon kid count with me!"

He hesitated, making this last shock more intense, "Three..."

The young cop gasped as another shock arrived. "F...four..." He whispered.

"Good kid!" the man said, going on torturing him, and prodding him along his whole body.

 **...**

"And fifteen!" Gretcher shook him a long, last time.

Street's head was drooping down, he was exhausted and completely out of strengths.

"Congratulation, kid! You have successfully passed the first session."

Gretcher climbed the stairs.  
"Try to rest now, you will need that."

Street desperately wanted to say something, but in that moment it was hard for him even to breath, and he was struggling to stay awake.

.

As soon as Hondo and his team arrived at Gretcher's home, they took a quick look on the outside.

"There is a car in the garage, someone is here," Luca said.

"Alright, Luca, Chris, take the back. Deac', Tan, we take the front," Hondo ordered.  
"Ready?"

Tan busted the door. "Metro swat!" they called out.

Margaret Gretcher was in the kitchen; as she heard the noise of the door crashed, she screamed in fear.

"Put your hand where we can see them!" Hondo said. "Is your husband here?"

She shook her head, "He doesn't live here anymore! I've no more to do with him."

"Clear, Chris out."

"Clear, Tan out."

"Clear, Luca out. There is no one here, boss."

"Where is Carl Gretcher?"

"I don't know! I told you, I kicked him out of my house long ago."

"Don't lie, as a sex offender he must report on where he lives, and this is said to be his current address," Deacon stepped in.

"It's not my fault he didn't change his address... I swear to you, I have nothing to do with him anymore... Why are you chasing him? What did he do this time?"

"Do you remember Jim Street? He was one of your foster kids back in 2003," Hondo said.

"Of course I do... the boy was the one who freed me from my ex husband..."

"Well yes, he did! But it was supposed to be you to take care of him, not the opposite!"

"Chris, back off!" Hondo said, than he turned again to the hostess, "What about a girl named Grace? She was another one of your foster child, and also one of your husband's victims. Do you recall what her last name was?"

"Yes... Wait a moment, I'll bring you the documents," she said, heading toward the living room, and opening the desk drawer.  
"Here it is, Grace Devemport." She handed them the paper. "Did something happened to them?"

"Your ex husband abducted them," Chris said.

"Oh my Gosh!"

"Do you know where he may took them?" Hondo continued.

"No... I haven't saw Carl in years, I don't know..."

"Think about it, was there some particular place he used to go with the kids back then?"

"I'm sorry... I have no idea... we have always lived here, and he wasn't exactly interest in spend time with them on the outside..."

"Ahrg! We have nothing!" Chris said heading out.

"Don't lose your mind, we'll go back to the HQ, hopefully Munford have something."

"If... " Ms. Gretcher followed them out, "when you find them... Tell them I'm sorry..."

Deacon hold Chris from going back, and telling something she would regret. Then they got on their cars and headed back to the HQ.

.

Street didn't know how much time had passed since Gretcher left him hanging there.  
His shoulders were beginning to really hurt, and he could barely feel his hands.

The dump had penetrated in his bones, the cold was unbearable, he was shivering hard, every single muscle in his body was starting to ache. But what was more hard to stand was the waiting: not knowing what was going to happen next was driving him crazy.

All that was too much to stand, he only wanted to go to sleep, and allow his mind to rest. But Gretcher was there again, and this time he had a baseball bat with him.

He started poking Street to wake him up. "Hey, kid. Are you ready for our next game?"

The cop tried to contract his muscles to avoid the contact with the bat, unsuccessfully.

"Is that what all this is for you? A stupid game?" he growled.

"Oh, I'm very sorry that you are not enjoying our time together, instead I am really having fan here!  
Maybe this will cheer you up: everybody loves a good piṅata!"

The man started hitting him with the bat, not to hard at first, than harder and harder.

Every hit made him swing from one side to the other, always hung up in the middle of the room.

Street pulled the cord, trying to take the hits without getting out in how much pain he was.

The pain was unimaginable. He tried to focus on his breath, but his chest was on fire, and his heartbeat was getting faster and irregular, as he just run a marathon.  
His mind clouded, and at that point he had to give up.

"Stop, please stop..." he whispered, with his mouth full of blood.

"Oh, you know need something from me, don't you?" Gretcher replied.

"Well, I'm not finished yet, but I'm glad you are spontaneously participating this time."He continued hitting him another bunch of times.

He stroked two strong hits on his back and another one in his abdomen, then he stopped.

"I think we can pause for now. My arms are starting to ache, well I guess I'm starting to get old. Plus it' Grace's turn now, I'm going to have some fun with her."

Street tried to protest, but the best he could do was only spitting some blood on his torturer's shoe.

"I'll put that on you tab!" the man said, slapping slightly him in the face before getting out of the room.


	5. Chapter 5

After Gretcher got out, it took a while for Street to regain full control of his mind.

It seemed to him that the time stopped.  
When he was alone in the dark his feelings had the best on him.  
The waiting between one torture and another was hard to bare, almost like the torture itself.  
In those moments he could just hope something would happen, anything would be ok, and whenever he could overhear footsteps coming through the other side of the door, his mind was trapped between the fear of his captor being there to 'play' with him again, and the hope of his teammates being there to rescue him.

He felt pain in every inch of his body.  
His lips were cracked and his throat was dry and sore.  
His muscles were tensed, and he was starting to have cramps.  
He tried to stand on his feet, to relive the tension on his shoulders, as his deadweight was putting too much pressure on them, but he didn't have the energy to stretch that much, as he was hanged too high.

While the electrical burnings and the bruises on his whole body made his blood boiling in his veins, his skin was frozen and the shivering wouldn't stop. He felt like his skin was about to separate from his meat, and his head was about to explode.

He was struggling to keep those sensation under control, and every time he would succeed in taking is mind back, the torture would start again.

.

During the ride back to the HQ Chris couldn't hide her frustration.  
"There must be something that we can do," she kept saying, and the others couldn't do better than feeling exactly like her.

"It's unbelievable," Chris said. "The lady there, she did nothing to protect them before, and I can feel she would not help them now, even if she could."

"She can't help, believe me, if I thought she could, we would not have left like this," Hondo replied.

"You know, shortly after he started working with us, Street said something to me..." she said, entering the HQ, "He said: 'I'm used to people turning their backs on me.' I think I can only really understand that now."  
They all stopped, and looked at her. "We can't be that kind of people. We can't turn our backs on him, being just some other people that won't care about him."

"We are doing all we can, and we are not going to let him down, I assure you," Hondo said.

"Did you find anything?" Commander Hicks said as they entered the room.

Hondo shook his head. "He doesn't live with his wife anymore, but he failed in changing his address."

"At least now we know Grace's last name," Luca said. "I'm looking for her in the database."

"Here she is! Grace Devemport," he added a couple of minutes later. "Arrested 5 times for vagrancy and shop-lifting, all records are from about 3 years ago, than nothing more. Her current address should be 12, Marks avenue, apartment 3A."

Munford's team entered the HQ a moment later.  
"He wasn't at work either. His employer said he hasn't shown in a couple of days," The sergeant said. "We checked his personal file, but he obviously put in the old address."

"Damn it!" Chris said. "So, what's the next move?"

"We keep monitoring Gretcher's credit card movement, and his cell phone, in case he turn it on, if he makes a mistake we will catch him," Munford said.

"We can't stay here sit on our hands!" Chris said.

"We are not. Luca, search the video of the traffic cameras around the alley we last saw them, and try to figure out where the van went;  
Tan, you examine the pictures you found at Street's home, if he took them in a place connected with their past maybe in the background of the photos there is some hint on where they were taken;  
Deac', Chris, you're with me, now that we know Grace address, we may found something useful in her apartment," Hondo said.

.

Grace lived in a nasty one-room apartment, in a sketchy neighborhood.

They knocked, and identified them as police, as there were not a response, Deacon forced the door, and they got in.

"The bar owner was right, she is really messed up," Chris said, looking around.

The inside was barley furnished, but the few stuff she had were all over the place. There was no computer, no laptop. It didn't take long to search the room. They even searched in her thrash, unsuccessfully.

"Nothing!" Chris said, heading out. "There is absolutely nothing here, it was a big loss of time!"

Hondo took her by the shoulders: "hey, you can't lose your mind right now. We are going to find him. Don't give up your hope, we are swat, remember?"

"We need you focused," Deacon added. "He needs you at your best."

She took a deep breath, and nodded: "ok, you're right. Let's go back to the HQ, I just hope the others found something."

.

Street woke up from his restless sleep for hearing the cracking of the door, Gretcher was already there, again with his cuddle prod.

Street was exhausted. 'No... not again!' He thought, counting the steps that separated him by his torturer.

As he saw the bucket in Gretcher's hands, he tried to hold his breath, preparing himself to the cold shower that was going to invest him. He startled as the wave of iced water touched his bare skin.

And the torture begun again. After the first few shocks Street was about to crack; he had to try something to stop the pain, or else he wasn't going to survive.

"No! Stop... I'm sorry..." he didn't want to apologize, as he knew he did nothing wrong, but he couldn't do better.

"Yeah, you know, I don't care! So six..." He dwelled, "seeeveeen..."

At that point Street definitely lost his mind; he couldn't control the pain anymore, he growled, he even asked for mercy, but nothing could change Gretcher's mind: that mean game could not be stopped that easily, and the man was enjoying it more and more.

As the shocks became more intense every time, the young cop's body couldn't stand them all, and at the twelfth he lost consciousness.

"Don't try to cheat little bastard! That's not how this works!" Gretcher went up, and returned a couple of minutes later with another bunch of cold water.

He spilled it on Street and waited until his victim regain at least the appearance of being awake. "So where were we at? Oh yes, twelve!" and so the shocks continued till the fifteenth.

"See? It wasn't that hard, was it?" he said, and then left him alone again.

'I can't be so weak... I can't! I have to do something... I...' Street thought, but in the state he was, he couldn't even think clearly.  
He just had to hope someone was going to save him. In his entire life he never had to trust someone as much as he had to trust his team in that moment.

.

"Ok guys, tell me you found a lead," Hondo said, entering the briefing room.

Tan shook his head. "There are no reference on the background of this photos. It's impossible to guess where they were taken."

"Same here," Luca said, keeping on examining the traffic videos. "I followed the van for a couple of blocks, then I lost it, I'm still searching."

"No activities on Gretcher's cell phone, or either his credit cards. I sent my men hitting the streets to find some clue," Munford said.

"He can't be disappeared, he must took them somewhere he could have control, somewhere he know he shouldn't be disturbed," Hondo said.  
"Think... were you would take your victims to not be seen or interrupted by someone you know?"

"Well, not in my own apartment," Deacon stepped in. "So even if we knew where he lives, I guess we wouldn't have found him there."

"So where?" Hondo continued.

"Are there any abandoned buildings in the area you lost track of the van?" Munford suggested.

"Let me check," Luca said. "There is a construction site, closed due to safety problems," he added a moment later. "Then there are an abandoned factory and a disused apartment site."

"Let us see the satellite image, he may be in one of them!" Hondo said.

They carefully looked at what Luca was showing them.

"It's unlikely the construction site," Deacon pointed out, observing the current state of the construction's works.

"Ok, let's go check the other two buildings. Munford, take the apartment site, we will head to the factory."


	6. Chapter 6

As soon as Hondo's team arrived at the factory, they quickly checked the outside.

"No sign of Gretcher or the van," Deacon said. "It seems there is no one here."

"Alright. Chris, Tan, Luca, you guys go upstairs," Hondo said, heading to the front door. "Deacon you're with me, we take the ground floor."

It was an old, large, abandoned building. The place was musty, the air was heavy, and the dump penetrated in the bones.

The team started to search the building.

"Clear," Chris said, checking the first room;  
"clear," Tan said, checking the second;  
the two then reached Luca, who was firm in front of a locked door.

"There must be something in here," he whispered, forcing the padlock.

Tan opened the door.

"Metro swat!" The other two got in.

They found a crying girl, curled in the corner of the small, dark storage room.

"Grace?" Chris came to her, "it's ok, we've got you! Do you know where Jim or Gretcher are?"

"I don't know... Gretcher locked me in here, and left... I'm sorry... I'm..."

"It's ok, it's ok... are you hurt?"

She shook her head, starting crying again.

.

'We found the girl, she seems fine, but still no sign of Street or Gretcher,' Luca said through the radio.

'Copy that, nothing here for now,' Hondo answered, 'Chris stay with the girl; Tan, Luca, you keep clearing the first and second floor; we'll search the basement.'

Hondo opened the small rusted door that would conduct them downstairs. "Metro swat!" They yelled.

Deacon was the first to go down.  
He could discern a motionless figure, dangling in the middle of the room.

They turned the lights on, and immediately saw their almost naked friend, hanging by his arms, with his wrists and ankles tided up, all covered in bruises and blood.

They both gasped at that sight, hoping he was still alive.

Hondo quickly checked the room, "Clear." He nodded, as Deacon rushed toward his wounded colleague.

"Street, talk to me," he said, but the young cop was barely breathing.

Deacon grabbed him from the waist, and lifted his body to free him from the hook he was hang to. Street growled in pain, disoriented and unable to say anything.

"Watch his head," Deacon said to his boss, putting the young cop gently on the ground.

Hondo cut off the ropes that held Street tide up, while Deacon started checking on him.

"Stop... don't touch... me..." he tried to protest, and free himself from the other's men touch.

"Calm down Street, it's us! It's Deac' and Hondo. It's ok, we've got you."

He hardly managed to open his eyes, and focus on them. Then he grabbed Deacon with all the strength he had left.  
"Grace... you... you have to find her..."

"Don't worry about that. She is ok, Chris is with her right now. Just focus on your breath ok?"

"Do you know where Gretcher is?" Hondo stepped in.

"No... I... I don't..." he laboriously swallowed. "S... Sorry..."

Street was barely conscious, "It's not my fault... it's... not...not..."

The other two looked at each other.

"We know, it's ok," they tried to calm him down.

He was heavily breathing and strongly shaking.

"Geez he is freezing," Deacon said, taking off his jacket to warm him up. "It's ok buddy, you are safe now."

Hondo grabbed his radio: 'We found Street in the basement, he is alive, but we have no sign of Gretcher."

Chris sighted, wishing she could be there with his friend.

Tan and Luca looked at each other in relief.

'Copy that boss, we are heading toward you,' Luca responded.

"Please... don't let them... see... see me... like... this..." Street moaned.

Deacon looked at his boss an nodded,

'Negative, continue searching the building, we have to stop that bastard.'

'Copy that boss, we will catch him!'

Street tried to get up.

"Easy kid, easy. The paramedics will be here in 10 minutes," Hondo said.

"Please... just take me out of here... please..." he was extremely eager and agitated.

"Ok... ok..." Deacon helped him raise in a sitting position, "just breath for now," he said and then looked at Hondo.

"You think you can walk?" His boss asked.

He nodded.

"Ok, let's get out of here then."

They helped Street getting up. He could barely stand as his legs were trembling, and he had to lean completely on Deacon just to stay straight.

Street's body was covered in bruises, he probably had some broken ribs, so they had to watch carefully were to put their hands while sustaining him.

Hondo went up the stairs first, gun pointed, in case they would cross Gretcher, and leaded the way.

Every single step cost Street a lot of concentration and fatigue, and the mere idea of climbing the stairs seemed impossible.

"It's ok, I got you," Deacon said.

"Wait..." Street stopped at the bottom of the stairway.

"We can take a little break if you need."

"I.. I think I'm gonna be sick."  
Street turned the other way, freeing himself from his friend's support, and threw up.

"Woo, ok... Ok." Deacon gently put a hand on his back.

"Sorry..."

"Don't worry, I have three kids, this is nothing I can't handle." He smiled to reassure him.

Street fell on his knees, and threw up again.

"Alright, alright! Take deep breaths," Deacon said, carefully massaging his back.

After a few minutes Street's grabbed his friend arm, and tried to get up.

"You're ready?" Deacon asked helping him stand.

"Yeah, I need... to get out... of here... now."

Deacon clutched his heart hearing the younger cop talking like that. He couldn't do less than helping him getting out of there as soon as they could.

.

'The building is clear, boss, Gretcher isn't here.' Luca's voice came from the radio.

'Copy that, go get Chris, and take the girl out,' Hondo said.

They were finally up the stairs, Street's breath was getting more and more heavier, and his skin more and more pale.

"This way, back entrance is closer, I'll tell the ambulance to meet us there," Hondo said.

Street's leg gave way under his weight, but Hondo was there to catch him, "It's ok kid, I'm right here. Let's get out together."

He left his side only to open the door.  
As soon as Street felt the fresh air of the night on his skin, his last strengths abandoned him, as he knew he had reached his goal, and he collapsed.

"Hey, hey, hey..." Deacon accompanied his friend's body to the ground. "Hondo, he can't breathe! Where's the ambulance?" he said, than he turned to his collapsed friend. "Stay with us buddy, c'mon look at me."

The paramedics arrived, and rushed to Street's side.

"He has a collapsed lung, we have to relive the pressure." one of the EMT said, then he took a big needle from his bag, and carefully inserted it in Street's chest.

The young cop started breathing again, and regained consciousness.

"Leave me..." he tried to get up.

The paramedic tried to keep him down, but he got the things even worst, as Street started agitating more.

"Arhg... don't touch me..."

"Easy Street, easy, they are here to help you!" Hondo tried to calm him down, "let them work, they won't harm you, I promise."

He reluctantly stopped opposing to the care, but he was far from being calm: his muscles where however tensed, and his eyes won't stop going from side to side to monitor the situation.

The paramedic connected Street to a potable cardiac monitor. His heartbeat was irregular, his pulse was weak, his pressure was at minimum.

"He has a onset of hypothermia, and he is extremely dehydrated," he said, inserting an IV in Street's arm to infuse some fluid to rehydrate him.

As soon as they managed to put him on the ambulance they were ready to go.

"Stay with him, keep him calm. We'll met at the hospital," Hondo said, and Deacon jumped in with the injured cop.

.

Hondo reached his team on the front side of the building.

Grace was quietly set in one of their cars.

"Where's Street?" Chris immediately asked.

"The ambulance just left, Deacon went with him."

"How bad is he?" Luca asked.

"He's bad, that bastard seriously junked him up.  
I just talked to Munford, his team should be here any minute to relieve us, so that we can drive the girl to the hospital, and see how Street is doing."


	7. Chapter 7

As soon as the ambulance took off, the paramedic covered Street's body with a thermal blanket to warm him up, but his body wouldn't stop shivering.

"Please dad... stop... I won't do it again..." He was raving. "Please, stop..."

"Calm down kid. It's not him. C'mon look at me," Deacon said, putting a hand on Street's shoulder.

"No, no! Don't touch me... please..." He pushed away his friend's hand.

"He's going in shook," the EMT said.

"I'm... I'm sorry..." He was twitching more and more.

"Hey, hey it's ok, Jim. Look at me." Deacon was hardly trying to keep him calm. "You are safe now, I'm right here, just breath, all right?"

They were about a block from the hospital when Street's pressure dropped, and he stopped breathing.

"Damn, he's coding!" the paramedic said.

"Ok, you can't start compression, the broken ribs heighten the risk of causing even more damage," the driver spoke up. "And you can't use a defibrillator on him either, due to the multiple shook he already received."

"I'll intubate him," the EMT in the back said, taking the instruments from the bag.  
"Here, help me," he said to Deacon, handing him the Ambu bag. "Hold this."

The cop watched the paramedic as he brought the laryngoscope, and opened Street's mouth; he successfully inserted the ET tube and connected it to the bag.

"Ok, start ventilating, push every three seconds," he said while fixating the tube in its place, and listening to his patient chest to make sure he did the procedure right.

"We're here," the driver said.

"Male, thirty; hypothermic; tachycardic; electric burnings on the 20% of his body; fractured ribs, and possible internal injuries. He already coded once..." The EMT briefed the doctors.

Deacon helped them bringing Street in.  
"Sorry you have to wait here." A nurse stopped him outside the emergency room.

He stood there, and continued to watch the doctors working on his friend.

.

Half an hour later the rest of Hondo's team arrived at the hospital.

"Tan, can you stay with Grace? I need to know how Street is doing... I'll be back to relive you as soon as I know something," Chris said.

Tan nodded hesitant, then he stopped a nurse for getting the girl visited.

The others reached Deacon in the waiting room, Hicks and Cortez were there too.

"How is he doing?" Hondo asked.

"Not good," Deacon said concerned. "He has massive internal bleeding, they just took him in for surgery," he continued.  
"He also has 3 broken and 5 cracked ribs, several cuts, bruises, and electrical burnings on his whole body."  
He stopped, and took a deep breath, "The worst part is that his heart was weakened, and he already coded once. The surgery is at high risk."

"That sick bastard will pay for this... Just let me get my hands on him..." Chris said.

"Yes, he will pay for what he did, but no one here is doing nothing, at least till you all cleared your mind, understood?" Hicks said.  
"Sit tight for now, Munford's team has it under control."

Hondo nodded. "But if Gretcher isn't behind bars when Street gets out of surgery, we will step in."

"Where is the girl you saved?" Cortez stepped in changing the subject.

"She is being examined, Tan is with her," Hondo said.

"I'll go talk to her, she will probably be more comfortable with a female officer," she said, leaving the room.

Five minutes later Tan reached them in a private waiting room.

"How's the girl?" Hondo asked.

"Physically she's fine, almost not a scratch on her."

Deacon looked at him puzzled.

"That's good," Hondo said.

"Captain Cortez stayed with her to make her talk, there's something odd in all this metter," Tan continued. "Any news on Street?"

They shook their heads. "He is still in surgery."

.

"It's been almost two hours," Chris said. "Why don't they tell as something?"

"He was in a pretty bad shape... It must take time," Tan said, "but no bad news are good news, right?"

Chris sighted, and leaned heavily on the armchair, while Luca was nervously walking back and forth the room, and Deacon was on the phone, explaining things to Annie.

"Are you here for Jim Street?" a doctor asked, approaching them.

"Yes, we are." They all got up from their sits.

"The surgery was complex, but he went through pretty well. He is stable for now, but that can quickly change."

They were just partially relived, and continued staring at the doctor.

"We managed to stop the internal bleeding in his abdomen, but he lost a lot of blood; and he still needs ventilation to breath, to make sure his lungs recover properly. Also his heart underwent some severe stress, and we had to revive him twice. We won't be sure if he has permanent damages until he wakes up."

"Thanks doc," Hicks said.

They all stood there, unsure if they had to be relieved or even more concerned.

"Can we see him?" Chris asked.

"He will be unconscious for a while, but yes, you can go in for a couple of minutes."

Hicks remained in the waiting room, while a nurse showed Hondo's team the way to Street's room.

Chris was the first to get in, she approached the bed and took his hand.  
It was so cold and lifeless.

Hondo and Deacon approached him too, while Tan and Luca stood on the door for a few seconds before getting in.

He had all sorts of IVs and tubes going in and out of his body.  
His skin was ghost white, his leaps pale blue.  
He was covered in a heavy blanket, gauze covered large parts of his arms, and probably of all of his body.  
The rhythmic sound of the ventilator, and the heart monitor slowly, but regularly beeping was, in some way, reassuring and scaring at the same time.

"How could this happen?" Deacon said, breaking the silence. "I know, we are on the line all the time, but this... this is different..."

"Yeah, this was personal," Luca added.

"That's it!" Deacon continued. "If it was personal for both of them, why he is this bad, but that girl is unharmed?"

"Maybe he wanted to take down the most valuable threat first, and came for her later," Tan said.

"No. I don't think that's it. Jeez... you didn't see how we found him... He couldn't be a threat for no one in that condition, and he had plenty of time," Deacon said. "I mean, he was a rapist and he didn't put a hand on the girl?"

"He was a pedophile, maybe he wasn't interest in her anymore," Luca said.

"I see where you are going Deac'," Hondo said. "Street met her in a bar where she was a regular. We saw him following her in the alley when they got kidnapped, but there were no reason for her to led him there, unless..."

"Unless she set him up," Deacon finished.

In that moment a nurse entered the room. "You have to leave now," she said. "One or two are good to stay, but the rest should go."

"Thanks, we'll leave in a few seconds," Hondo said.  
"Ok... Chris, you stay here, he need protection till we find the man, I'm going to place a guard outside as soon as I can. Deac', you and me will confront Grace. Tan, Luca, you wait for us with Hicks."

They nodded, then they looked at their unconscious friend before going out.

"Chris, keep us updated," Hondo said while he was leaving, and she nodded.

.

Deacon and Hondo headed to Grace's room, and made Captain Cortez to join them outside.

"How's Street?" she asked.

"Weak, but stable. At least for now. The surgery went pretty well," Hondo said. "And her? Did she told you anything?"

"Nothing useful, but something's off... I can't explain, but I feel like she is lying."

"Yeah, we are here for that. The evidence point she is an accomplice more than just a victim. Do you think we can talk to her?"

"Go ahead. But be careful, it must not be that simple, the man probably forced her to collaborate."

They got in, and Hondo approached the girl. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine... How's Jimmy?"

"Not so good, I'm afraid."

"I'm so sorry... I shouldn't call him."

"What do you mean? Did you knew what was going to happen when you called him?"

Grace was paralyzed for a moment, "No... I just received some anonymous threats, I mean I shouldn't involve Jimmy in that..."

"Look at me girl, we know you are afraid of Gretcher, but your friend is fighting for his life right now, and you may know something we can use to take down the man responsible for that," Hondo interrupted her.  
"Listen to me, Street tried to protect you with every inch of his body, right? Do you know what was the first thing he said when we found him hanging in that basement? He asked us to save you."

Grace's eyes were filled with tears.

"We can protect you. If we catch the man you will be both safe," Cortez stepped in, noticing Hondo's tone was getting a little too pressing.

"I'm so sorry... he told me if I didn't help him catch Jimmy he would just resume from where we left fifteen years ago... I couldn't let him... I just couldn't..."

"It's ok... we won't judge you for that," Cortez said. "But now you can help us. Think, did he tell you where he lives now? Or anything we can use to trace him?"

"He told me nothing, but I'm sure of one thing: he is not gonna let things ending like this"

"So we just wait here since he shows up?" Deacon said. "He can't be so reckless, he waited 15 years, I don't think he would risk everything just like this."

"Believe me, I saw that in his eyes, he needs to kill Jimmy to go on with his life," Grace added.

"Ok, so we find him before he can hurt him or anyone else anymore," Hondo said. "How did Gretcher contacted you the first time? How did he found you after this long time?"

"He showed up at my workplace, he said he saw me on his way to work the day before"

"That's not much, but at least we have a clue," Deacon said. "We will start from that."

"Ok, go to work now, I'll stay here in case she remembers something else," Cortez said.

The other two cops nodded, then they went to update their colleagues, and to get ready to start the search.


	8. Chapter 8

All swat agents were busy trying to find out Gretcher's location, even Commander Hicks was taking part in the investigation. The case hit too close to home, and they were putting all their efforts on solving it.

Hondo's team stopped by HQ only to change to plain clothes, and then they went out, following the slight lead Grace gave them on where Gretcher may lived.  
Meanwhile Munford's men were on patrol, checking the surroundings of the factory where they found Street.

The clues they had where practically non-existent, but they couldn't stop. That man had to pay for what he did to their colleague and friend.

It was half past one when a call arrived, and Munford's team had to leave the search to respond. 'We are still swat, emergency calls come first.' Hicks said.

After a couple of hours of aimlessly searching around, Hondo, Deacon, Luca and Tan came back to the HQ.

"We can't go on like this, we have nothing!" Luca said.

"Damn it! He can't have turned in to a ghost," Deacon said.

"Don't rush things, we may be more lucky with the daylight," Hicks said.

.

At the hospital, Chris was napping on the armchair near Street's bed, cradled by the regular sound of the machines he was attached to.  
She had been there all night, monitoring her helpless friend, and now that the LAPD was guarding the room, and taking care of the main security detail, she could just be there for him, as a friend.

She knew that, for her team, Gretcher was the priority target now. The man kidnapped one of their own, he hurt one of their own, and now, he is again a threaten to their friend's life.  
They had to catch him, and for sure they won't stop till they do.

In less than an hour another swat member was going to relive her, so she could go home, just the time to take a quick shower, and be back on the job.

It was hard for her watching her friend hurt and unconscious, without being able to do one thing to help.  
Holding his lifeless hand, and praying for him to be ok were the only things she could do at the moment.

She couldn't do better than think about how he must felt alone and scared at the mercy of that man. She only hoped that he never stopped believing in them, that he never lost his hope.

They were Street's family, and they were trying to show him that from the day he joined the team, even if he had trouble accepting their efforts.  
Besides, with his mother in jail, and the only other person he considered close enough, retired sergeant Buck Spivey, in another state, they were all he had.  
They couldn't simply leave him alone like that.

.

Captain Cortez was waiting that Grace could be released from the hospital to take her to the swat HQ.  
She couldn't really see the girl as an accomplice of the kidnapper, but she knew she wasn't just another victim too.

'If she only had trusted Street more,' she thought. 'If she had told him everything was going on, instead of lure him into a trap...' She looked at Grace, she was clearly terrified. 'What am I doing? Am I really judging her?' She sighted.

"I'm... I'm sorry..." Grace drew Cortez attention. "The first time he contacted me, he... he gave me something."

"What?"

"A silk scarf. I... I never worn it... but I remember he said -I bought it only for you in a little boutique in front of my apartment.- I can tell you the name of the shop"

"Ok, we will check. Good job Grace, everything you can remember may help us." She instinctively tried to reassure her, then she left the room to inform Hondo.

.

Hondo hung up the phone, and joined the others in the briefing room.

"We may have a lead. I was just on the phone with Cortez. Grace remembered something, we may know where the bastard lives. Gear up."

"Pay attention guys, this is our job, not simple vengeance," Hicks said.

They nodded and left.

When they arrived at the boutique Grace pointed out, they look around to see there were only a couple of house and small complex of apartments, other than a bunch of shops, so they quickly managed to identify their target.

It was only 4 in the morning, but they saw someone leaving one of the apartments.

Hondo waited for him in the parking, and approached him, trying to stay as quiet as he can, to not be noted by Gretcher, in case he was inside.

"Hey, do you know this man?" he said, showing him Gretcher's photo. "Does he live here?"

"Yes, that's Carl. What did he do?"

"Which door?" Hondo asked, ignoring the question.

"Number 5. But he couldn't have done anything. He is such a quiet neighbor."

"Don't worry, stay here, and stay put, please," Deacon said, following his teammates toward their target.

They arrived at Gretcher's door, and busted it.

"Swat, don't move!" They yelled, but no one was there.

The small apartment was almost empty.

"He's gone!" Luca said.

"Damn it! He already moved!" Hondo said. "Search the room, I'll go talking to the neighbor."

Hondo reached the man they crossed before in the parking. "How well do you know him?"

"Actually not so much, we talk once in a while, he does his own business, respecting us, that's all."

"When did you last see him?"

"I think he was here last night."

"Did you know he was moving?"

"What? No... I..."

"Did he tell you where he'd might go?"

He shook his head. "I'm sorry... But way are you looking for him?"

"He is a dangerous man, he kidnapped two people. If you see him, or if you note something please do not approach him, and call me immediately," He said, handing him his card.

"Oh, my God, ok..."

In that moment the other three cops approached. "He left nothing useful there, we are back to the beginning," Deacon said.

"C'mon he can't be this good," Luca said.

"Let's go, I'll sand LAPD to patrol the neighborhood, just in case, even though we know he wouldn't come back," Hondo ordered.

"I'll go to relive Chris at the hospital," Tan said. "I'll let you know something."

.

Tan approached Street's room, and hastily greeted the agent standing by.  
He stood by the door for a minute, looking at his still unconscious colleague, then he glimpsed on the half asleep Chris.

"Hey," he put a hand on her shoulder, and gently woke her up. "Your replacement is here." He smiled.

"Hey... I was just resting my eyes..."

He nodded, trying not to laugh at her.

"Any news on Gretcher?" she asked.

He shook his head. "We found were he used to live, but he was already gone."

Then he turned to Street. "How is he doing?"

"No change. A nurse came by a couple of hours ago to take care of his burnings. She told me his vitals are still weak, but steady. We just have to wait until he naturally wakes up."

They both stared at Street for a few seconds.

"And what about you?" he turned to her.

"I'm ok," she hesitant replied. "I'm used to stay up all night..." she added feeling Tan's gaze on her. "I'm just worried, you know..." She again turned to Street.

"Yeah, I know," he said. "Now you should go, the others wait for you. I'll let you know if there are any changes, I promise."

She nodded, and left the room.

Tan set on the armchair, and took out his phone. Before putting all his attention on it, he looked for a good moment at Street. He was sleeping soundly, and although Tan knew resting was the best thing for him right now, he only wanted him to open his eyes, and reassure his teammates he was going to be alright.

"C'mon brother, I know you are strong." He mumbled. "You have to come out of this, I know you can. We are right here, waiting for you."


	9. Chapter 9

When Luca entered the locker room, he found Chris lost in her thoughts, staring at Street's locker.

"He will be fine," he said, startling her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean..." He quickly apologized.

"It's ok, I'm just quite nervous I think."

"He didn't awakened yet?"

She shook her head.

"I can't." She set down on the bench. "I can't read his locker letter," she said, while he was staring at her.

"Why would you?"

"When you and Tan tormented him to write 'the letter'," she looked distantly at him. "Do you remember he didn't want to?"

"Yeah..."

"Well... It wasn't because he's not superstitious, or to piss you off, nothing like that... he just didn't know who to write it to..."

"I see..." he interrupted her.  
"So you told him to address it to you..." He smiled. "After all we are a family."

"But now... I can't read it." She turned back staring at the locker.

"It's ok." He put a hand on her shoulder. "He is going to wake up soon, and you won't need to read anything," he paused. "Besides... It will probably contain a load of stupid things, uh?" he added, making her laugh.

"Let's go get that bastard, ok?"

.

It was around midday when Tan's attention was caught by the light movement of Street's fingers.

He was slowly starting to regain consciousness, feeling confused and disoriented.  
As he was trying to regain control, he felt himself trapped by all the tubes and wires he was attached to. He suddenly remembered the chains and the ropes with which he was tied up before, and started to panic.

Tan was alarmed by the increasing speed of the sound of the heart monitor, and pushed the call button to make sure a nurse could quickly intervene.

Street hardly managed to open his eyes, and not recognizing the surroundings, he panicked even more. He tore off the IV in his right arm, and started fighting with the tube in his throat.

"Stop it, do not try to remove that, you need it! It's helping you breath." Tan stopped him, trying to balance his force to hold him still, without hurting him.

"It's ok Street. You are safe now! You are at the hospital."

The nurse appeared, but at first she just stood there, waiting that the cop had managed to calm the patient down, unsure if she should step in and sedate him back.

"C'mon it's me. You can relax now," Tan said.

When his friend was finally cooling off, he could let him go.  
He couldn't tell if Street started to regain control of himself, or if he was simply too weak to keep fighting, but now he was calm enough to the nurse to approach, and stop the bleeding in his arm, caused by the traumatic removal of the IV.

"Hold on, honey, I'm here to help you," the nurse said.  
"Don't try to talk," she continued as the patient put his hand on his throat. "Your lungs are still too weak, you have to wait a little bit more until we can take the tube off." She smiled at him.

At that moment a doctor entered the room, and asked Tan to step back as he started to check on his patient.

He controlled his vitals, his pupils, and his temperature, then he grabbed his hands. "Can you squeeze both my hands?" he said, and the patient weakly did what he asked.

"Good. As long as you can't talk, can you blink once to say 'yes', and twice to say 'no'?"

Street slowly blinked once.

"Good," the doctor said, while Tan was carefully observing them from the corner of the room.

"Ok. Let's check on your mental status, now. Is your name Jim Street?"

He blinked once.

"Are you 35?"

He blinked twice.

The doctor went on with another couple of routine questions.

"Seems good, let's check on your short term memory." He glanced at Tan to make sure he was listening. "Do you understand that you are in hospital right now?"

He blinked once.

"Do you recall how did you get here?"

He blinked twice.

"That's ok, no problem. Can you remember what happened before?"

Street closed his eyes, but he didn't soon reopened them, and his heart bit started to increase again.

"It's ok, don't worry. You are safe now." The doctor put the IV back in his right arm.  
"I'm sorry, it was too soon for that, you should rest," he said, giving him a light sedative. "This will help you."

The doctor turned to Tan, as Street was drifting unconscious, "He is still very weak, but the good news is his brain's functions appear to be completely normal."

Tan sighted in relief.

"He will need a lot of rest," the doctor continued. "He was starting to get too agitated, so I slightly sedate him. He should be asleep for the next 3 or 4 hours."

"Thanks doc," Tan said, as the doctor was getting out the room, and took his phone to inform Hondo and the team on the improvement in Street's condition.

.

A couple of hours later, all the team joined Tan at the hospital. He stepped outside the room, to let Street sleep quietly while they talked.

"Hey guys, any news?"

Hondo shook his head.

"How the heck? He can't be vanished!"

"Munford's on it now, we were ordered to take a break." Hondo glimpsed thought the door. "How's Street?"

"He is sedated, but now and then he get a little stirred in his sleep, you know, like he is having a nightmare."

"Yeah, I can imagine," Deacon said. "After what he went through, he has every right to feel that way."

"I can't see him like that," Chris sighted. "We are swat, we should always have our back."

"We are! We could do nothing to prevent this, and we are doing all we can to fix it," Hondo said.

"It appears we were ordered to take a break for a good reason, eh?" Luca stepped in.  
"Why don't you all go home and rest a little? I'll stay... There's no way I can sleep on Street's couch anyway, while he is here like this."

They nodded, then went briefly in to greet their sleeping friend before leaving.

.

About an hour later, Luca was aimlessly walking along the room, when Street woke up to the sudden, sweating and shaking.

Luca hurried to his friend's side.

"Hey, it's ok! Calm down." He was going to put his hand on his friend's chest, but he hesitated, to not make the things worst.

"Take it easy, man. It's just me, can you focus on me?"

Street looked at him, and tried to say something.

"Do not try to talk, you still have the tube in your throat."

Luca looked strictly in Street's eyes, they were full of fear. He put a hand on his shoulder to reassure him.

He could not imagine how it must have been for him, feeling so harmless and vulnerable now, just as he must felt in that basement before, being tortured, and not being able to protect this girl he cared about. And all that from a man who used to be his foster father.

Luca could clearly tell that he was still a lot confused.

"It's all going to be ok. I will explain everything to you as soon as you calm down, ok?"

Street closed his eyes for a moment, to show he understood.

Luca set next to him.  
"You got us really scared this time!" He gently pat his shoulder, and smiled.

"Here, the nurse left this for you," he said putting in his friend's hand a white board. "You can use it to communicate till you have the tube removed."

Street extended his left arm, his wrist was wrapped in bandages, and he barely had the strength to keep it lifted long enough to receive the marker in his hand.

The first thing he wrote was -Grace-

Luca took a deep breath, thinking of what to say.

"You shouldn't be worried for the girl. She is perfectly fine, Gretcher didn't let a hand on her..."

Street closed his eyes for a few seconds in relief.

At that point Luca didn't know how to go on, but he thought his friend deserved the truth.  
"I'm sorry to tell you this, but... She sold you up, she was so scared of the man that she made a deal with him, to catch you out guard."

Street closed his eyes again, and tightened the sheet in his hands, not knowing how to feel.  
He was still glad she was ok, and he could clearly feel why she was so scared, but he felt however betrayed.

"I know it's hard to believe. You were only trying to help her... But now she is trying to help us find the man. She gave us a hint, but we couldn't catch him yet."

-u not?- Street wrote.

Luca took a while to answer 'cause he had some trouble understanding his trembling handwriting.

"No, but we will. Till then there will be an officer out your door, and you will never be left alone. You'll be safe."

-k-

"So," Luca sighted. "I hate to be the one to ask you relive that nightmare, but you know the drill..." he said. "Can you remember something useful to find Gretcher? Did he tell you anything we can use to track him down, or have you any idea where he may go?"

Street closed his eyes, trying to recall those details. His hands started hardly shaking, and his pulse rate started to speed really fast.

"It's ok, take your time." Luca said.

He was desperately trying to remember anything useful, but every time he closed his eyes Gretcher was there, ready to 'play' with him.

He tried to write something, 'anything would be fine,' he thought, being ashamed to appear so week in front of his colleague, but remembering was too painful.

'I can't tell. He told me nothing useful.' That was what he intended to write down, but what he actually wrote was just a pile of scribbles, even though Luca didn't have to clearly read the message to understand his friend's state of mind.

"You know that I have dyslexia, right? And this definitely doesn't help me!" he smirked. "Plus I'm already tired of decrypting your horrible handwriting," he said, trying to ease the tension.

Street's expression became dark and hopeless. He tried to concentrate and write properly the word -sorry-

"Hey, don't worry, we'll however find him. I think we are pretty good at this things. Right?"

-Y, Tnx- He managed to write back.

"Now you should go back to sleep, doc said you need rest if you wanna take that tube off any soon." He smiled, and it didn't take much longer till the exhausted Street collapsed in his bed.


	10. Chapter 10

Cortez drove Grace to the HQ, and they settled down in her office.

After a few minutes on the sofa, the girl started to walk around the room.

"You are gonna be safe in here," Cortez said, seeing her visibly uncomfortable and scared.

"Thanks," she said hesitant.  
"It's all my fault... isn't it?"

Cortez didn't exactly know how to answer. "No, it's not," she finally said.  
"Gretcher it's the only responsible for this. You were just trying to stay alive."

"But Jimmy... Oh, he was only trying to save me..." she set back down with her hands on her face.  
"He was one of the few people in my entire life who tried to help me, maybe even the only one who never asked for anything back... How could I..." she couldn't finish the sentence.

"Look, Grace, he knew what he was doing when he went to meet you," she was trying to reassure her, even if in the end she herself believed that the girl should did better.  
"The truth is, I don't know Street that much, but I'm sure he would do anything to help the people he cares about. He would feel awful if something happened to you, and he could do nothing to prevent that."

After half an hour of deep silence Grace drew Cortez attention.

"I don't really know if it is important, but I was thinking about Maggie..."

The cop looked at her confused.

"Margaret, Carl's wife."

"We already talked to her, she said she hasn't seen his ex husband in years."

"What if she lied... I should not be the one to talk after what I did, but even if she was pretty nice to us kids, she used to cover for her husband every time. I have never thought she had the strength to dump him."

"She must found the courage when he was arrested, and then she kept the strength when he was released."

"Maybe she really doesn't know, but... He kept on mentioning her, he was talking nonsense, keep telling how Jimmy took her away from him. I think he is planning to win her back."

"That could be a good assumption, I'll tell the team. Don't worry, I'll be right back."

Cortez call the team in the briefing room.

"Hey, listen up, Grace remembered something. She told me Gretcher was not only obsessed with taking revenge on Street, but also with taking his wife, back. She is convinced that as soon as the man he blame for their divorce is out of the business, she will forgive him."

"Yeah, but Street is not definitely out yet," Tan pointed out.

"It's worth a try. Let's go talk to Ms. Gretcher," Hondo said.

.

Hondo and Chris headed to Ms. Gretcher home, while Tan drove Deacon to the hospital to relive Luca, before reaching them there.

Chris and Hondo knocked at Margaret's door, and when she opened she wasn't pleased to see the two cops.

"I already told you all I know. I had nothing more to say." She seemed eager to close the door on their faces.

"Can we come in, please?" Hondo asked, and she couldn't do otherwise.

"We found them, if you are interested, but we couldn't catch Carl," Chris said, noticing something strange in Margaret's look. "Grace is safe," she went on, "but Jim is seriously injured."

"Oh my... that poor thing."

Hondo's phone waved, and he looked at the text: -Luca and I are here, we'll patrol the outside of the house-

"We suspect your ex husband will show up here, to try to get you back." He said putting his phone away.

"What? Here?" She was avoiding eye contact.

"Are you sure there isn't something you would share with us?"

"Nothing. I'm just scared..."

"Then we will stay here for a while, in case he shows up."

"Ok... settle in..." She was forced to say.

.

At the hospital, Deacon was watching at his asleep colleague, the sight of him in that condition reminded him of when Annie got sick, and he couldn't help but text her, to make sure she was ok.

'He seems so quite now,' he thought, remembering in how much panic he was when they found him in that basement. He could still figure in his mind his bare skin, covered in scratch and blood.

His thoughts were interrupted when a monitor started to send an alarm.

'What the...' he immediately thought. "Hey, I need some help in here," he called out, as a couple nurses quickly jumped in.

"He is having trouble berating," one of them said. "The tube must be clogged. Go call doctor Abbott."

When the doctor arrived, one of the nurses accompanied Deacon out of the room. "You have to step out now, they are taking good care of him, there's no need to worry," she tried to reassure him.

Street woke up with the caretaker checking on him. He raised his hand to draw their attention on the fact he was awake, and that he wanted some explanation on what was going on.

"It's all good honey," the nurse said. "You just had a little obstruction in the tube, but we removed it. You are ok now."

'That damn tube,' he thought, then he started looking around, searching for familiar faces.

"Oh, don't worry, we had to get your friend out to take care of you. You will see him in a couple of minutes," the nurse reassured him.

The doctor was listening to his heart, and checking his blood pressure. "The bad news is that the tube caused a little edema in your throat, that's way there was an obstruction."

Street looked him confused.

"But the good one is that your vitals are good enough to take the tube off," the doctor said.

'Oh, thank God!' he thought, while the nurse lifted him up a little and put a pillow under his back.

For a brief moment the pain took over as his broken ribs and his beaten body make them feel their voice.

"Try to relax, It will only take a minute," the nurse said. "After this, you will feel sore, and swallowing will be hard for a while." She looked straight at him to make sure he understood. "And don't try to talk for a few minutes, ok?"

Street blinked.

"Alright, when I tell you, take a deep breath and exhale as I take the tube off, ok?" the doctor said.

He blinked again, and a moment later he was coughing as the tube was removed. The movement made his chest hurt, and he had to close his eyes, trying to relieve the pain.

The doctor quickly checked his patient throat. "It's a little reddened, but should be ok."

Street tried to say 'thank you' but he was suddenly interrupted. "Remember what I just said? Don't force you voice out," the nursed stepped in.

He nodded as the doctor was going out the room.

"You still need to rest," she said, adjusting his position in bed, "but I can let your friend in, if you want."

He nodded again, then took her hand, and forced a smile to thank her. She smiled back and got out, leaving him alone for a few minutes before letting his colleague in.

"Hey, glad to see you breathing again," Deacon said, entering the room.

"H-hey," he managed to say, slightly raising his hand to greet his friend.

Deacon set on the armchair next to him. "They say you are improving fast, but I have to tell you, don't try to force your recovery, ok?" He looked seriously at him. "I've already saw Annie having a relapse, and I'm not letting you mess with my team like that."

"By the way, we are close to catch him," he said, anticipating the younger cop's question.

"Thanks," he whispered.

"Well, it's our job. Right?" Deacon tried to minimize.

"I mean... For taking me out of there..."

"Don't worry about that."

"I'm... I'm really sorry to give you all this trouble."

"It's ok. That's what family is for."

Street closed his eyes, feeling overwhelmed.

"You should go back to sleep, and recover. We can't babysit you forever."

.

At Margaret Gretcher's home, Chris was carefully looking around.  
"He was here, wasn't he?" she said, spotting something in the next room.

"No, I told you, I haven't see him in years."

"Why are you lying?" Chris brought a male jacket, and showed it to Hondo.

"There's blood on it," he said approaching the maiden. "Stop cover for him! That man is dangerous!"

"He never touched me... He..."

"Stop it! Where is he now?"

"I don't know. I rejected him. I told him I couldn't understand..."

"What did he said?"

"He said he still loves me, and he would do whatever it takes to have me back." She started crying.

"What does that means? What does he have to do?" Chris asked.

"I don't know... I told him I couldn't stand what he did, and he... He got angry, and said he would take care of the problem once for all."

"He is going to finish what he started, he is going to kill Street!" Hondo said, picking the phone to warn Deacon.


	11. Chapter 11

At the hospital the atmosphere changed, there was too much movement for a common night shift, and the usual silence was replaced by a constant murmur.

"Excuse me, sir," the agent outside Street's door drew Deacon's attention. "The nurses seem a little too eager, don't you think?"

Deacon glanced at his unconscious friend, than he got up from the armchair, and call for someone.

"What's happening?" he asked as a nurse approached.

"A missing child has been reported to us, disappeared from the ER," she explained. "Can one of you help us, please?"

The LAPD agent watched the Swat member, waiting for orders.

Deacon looked at Street for a good moment; he was sleeping soundly.  
He knew he wasn't supposed to left his side, but as a father he could not stay there doing nothing in a situation like that.

"Yeah, I'll search with you," he said to the nurse, then he turned to the agent. "You stay here, don't move!"

The guard nodded.

A few minutes later Street woke up to the sound of Deacon's cell phone, waving on the little table next to his bed.

"Deac'?" he whispered. "What's happening man?" he said, looking around, but his friend wasn't there.

He tried to move in a sitting position, but a sudden flush of pain made him lean back on the bed, leaving him out of breath.  
He tried to focus, and guess what was going on, and unexpectedly he heard the echo of a blow, and the fire alarm was activated.

The LAPD agent noticed smoke coming from behind the corner, and glanced inside the room.

"I need to check on this," he said, noticing Street was awake. "Are you alright?"

There were people screaming and crying, so he knew it could be serious, and he nodded.

"Ok, I'll be right back," the agent said, leaving his position.

.

Street was extremely confused, and started to sense something was really off.  
He tried to reach Deacon's cell phone, but the pain of lifting even a single arm was too much, and he had to stop moving.

He was about to ask for explanation to the doctor that was coming in, but he soon recognize in him his captor. He tried to move again, reaching the call button, but Gretcher came close in a blink.

The man quickly disconnected him from the monitors, taking off all of the wires, and pulling the call button away from his reach.

"Stop, don't touch me," he said, gasping, and trying to get up from the bed, but he couldn't.

He wanted to scream, to cry for help, but his voice couldn't come out.

Gretcher grinned, and took a pillow from behind Street's back.

He tried to oppose, but his muscles didn't obey his will.

The look on the man's face was insane, his eyes were full of anger and frustration.

Street tried to recall all his strengths, and grabbed Gretcher's arms to push him away, as the man was pushing the pillow into his face.

He was struggling to breath, and the more the oxygen lacked to his brain, the more he lost the few strength he had left.  
He couldn't let the grab go, he knew that he couldn't surrender like that.

He was about to lose consciousness when he heard a shot, and the pressure on his face stopped.

Gretcher fell on the ground, as he felt a sharp pain in his left knee, and Deacon immediately handcuffed him.

As soon as the LAPD agent secured the man, the swat member rushed to his struggling colleague.

In that moment the rest of the team arrived.  
Tan and Luca dragged Gretcher out, as he started kicking and screaming, to oppose to the cops, and a nurse occurred to check on his wound.

Hondo and Chris approached Street, while Deacon was already on his side, taking the pillow away from his face.

"It's ok, you're safe now, just focus on your breath," Deacon put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's ended." Chris took his hand. "We got him!"

The panic started to drift away, as he painfully regained control on his respiratory rate.

A nurse came in to reconnect him to the monitors, and make sure he was alright. The Swat team had to step outside, so the doctors could take care of their friend.

"I know, I shouldn't left him," Deacon tried to apologize.

"He is going to be ok," Hondo reassured him. "We managed to stop the man in time, that's all that matters right now." He tapped his colleague shoulder,

"The man was clever." Luca added. "He fake an emergency, he even blew up a trashcan! You could not imagine that was just a set up."

Despite all the reassurance he was receiving, Deacon couldn't get Street out of his sight, constantly glancing trough the door, to see how he was doing.

.

"Glad to hear that, good job," Cortez said hanging up the phone.

Grace looked up to her, with eyes full of hope.

"They got him," Cortez nodded. "You don't have to be scared of him anymore."

"Is it really the end?" she asked incredulous. "I mean... for good?"

"Yes. You can count on it," she assured. "Double kidnapping and attempted murder of a police officer, he won't be able to see daylight anymore."

Grace sighted in relief.

"And what's gonna happen to me?" she hesitantly asked.

"You will probably have to testify, but you will be free to go."

"You are gonna let me go?" she said. "Despite what I did to Jimmy?"

"You were coerced to do so... Didn't you?"

"Yeah, of course. He is...he was..." She couldn't finish her fraise.  
She looked out of the window. "I need to talk to him...to explain. Do you think he would see me?"

"I think he only needs rest for now," Cortez replied.  
"But he had a really hard time, and he will need all his friends to come out of this."

"Yeah. Well, I don't think he shell out me in that category anymore..."

"If there is one thing I learned about Jim Street is that he never turn his back on his family, and you are pretty close to family for him."

.

As soon as the doctor left, Hondo's team could get in to see their guy.

"Right now LAPD is taking care of Gretcher for us," Luca said. "You don't have to worry anymore."

Street nodded. "Thank you, guys..." he tried to take a deep breath.  
"For everything," he whispered.

They were all smiling and nodding, thankful that he was ok.

"I'm sorry kid, I should have never left you alone," Deacon said.

"It's ok..." It took a while till he could replay. "You...you saved...me." He tried to smile, hardly focusing on his friend, as the pain killers the nurse just injected in him started to make their effect.

He leaned back, heavily panting. "Sorry guys...I don't think...I can have...a long chat."

"Don't worry buddy, take all the rest you need," Luca said, gently tapping his shoulder.

"Yeah, we should go make sure the man gets what he deserves," Tan said.

"And report to Hicks," Hondo stepped in.

Deacon stared at his friend, hesitant to leave, still feeling guilty he nearly got him killed.

"Let's go, paper work waits for you Deac'," Hondo added, nodding at Street.

"Yeah, I know: I fired, I had to immediately report, but..."

"I'm fine. You caught him... I don't need the babysitter anymore," Street said, reassuring him. "Besides, I feel I'm going to drift away soon, so..."

"Ok, so I will just sit here till you're gone," Chris said, than she turned to her boss. "I'm gonna stay here a little bit more, if it's ok for you."

Hondo nodded, with everyone else approval.

"I'm not used to receive all this attentions...That's... That's kind of embarrassing," he tried to protest. "You really don't need to..."

"Don't argue with the girl, kid," Hondo ordered. "You are not gonna win this."

"Yeah, ok," he said, not having the strength to protest further.

Street slightly lift his right hand to greet his friends as they got out, then he let his weight abandoned on the pillow.

"I'm really glad it's over," Chris said as soon as the two of them were alone in the room.

"Yeah," he mumbled.

"You know, I was about to read your locker letter..." she said, looking outside the window. "I'm just relived I didn't have to..." she looked back to her friend, only to find him already asleep.

"Good." She smiled at him. "I wasn't in the mood for a open hart conversation anyway," she said, and she set next to his bed staring at him for a while before having the courage to leave.

.

A couple of days later Hondo was there to check on his teammate's progresses, he was walking through the corridor when he heard Chris voice calling for him.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Same as you, checking on a friend," she said, approaching Street's room.

He was still bedridden, but at least this time he could fist bump with his friends to greet them.

"Woh... You look terrible." She smiled.

"Yeah... Rough night," he said. "But I'll get there."

"Of course you will, you are too stubborn for letting go," Hondo stepped in.

Street tried to reach the glass of water waiting for him on the table, but he moved to fast, and had to hide the flush of pain that invested him.

Chris rushed to take the water for him as his try failed.  
"Here, you don't need to act tough with us," she said, and put it directly in his hands.

"Tanks," He whispered, with his voice full of resignation.

"Hey, don't rush things," Hondo ordered him. "Doc said it will take at least a couple of weeks till you will be back on your feet."

"Yeah, but..."

"Don't mess up! You have to fully recover, if you want to be back with us."

"If I want?"

"Yeah, we are waiting for you."

"Of course we are," Chris added.

At that moment Grace appeared at the door.

Street stood silent, acknowledging her presence.

She was just standing there, waiting for the right moment to come in.

Chris turned back, and saw her. "What the hell are you doing here?" she harshly said.

"No, it's ok. Let her in," Street said. "Please..."

"Shift will start soon, we have to go," Hondo made Chris a sign they should go.

"Yeah," Chris nodded hesitant. "I'll call you later, ok?"

"That sounds good, thanks," he replied, and the two cops went out, leaving them alone.

Instantly an awkward silence filled the room.

"I..." "I'm.." The two started speaking simultaneously.

"I'm so sorry..." she managed to say.

"I'm just glad you're ok," he reassured her.

"You have every reason to be mad at me, you don't have to... I'll understand if you hate me..."

"I don't!" he quickly replied, making her a sing to sit down next to him.  
"Yeah, I was confused, and maybe a little mad at first, but you are my sister," he paused. "You really are."

Her eyes were filled by tears.

"After all he did when we were child, I can't blame you to have been frightened." He took her hand, painfully turning to watch her straight, but she still wouldn't look him in the eyes.

"Hey," he managed to make her lift her face. "I know we never knew how having a real family feels like." He cleared his voice. "My team is desperately trying to teach me that for a while, and I want you to learn that too."

He smiled. "It's a good feeling, I promise."

* * *

.

* * *

AN: So...this is the end! Thank you very much for having come so far with me, I sincerely hope you enjoyed the journey.

Some of you asked me to continue, but I'm afraid that's not in my plans right now.  
For the possibility of writing a sequel though, well, let's leave that door open...


End file.
